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[casi-analysis] casi-news digest, Vol 1 #162 - 8 msgs



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This is an automated compilation of submissions to newsclippings@casi.org.uk

Articles for inclusion in this daily news mailing should be sent to newsclippings@casi.org.uk. 
Please include a full reference to the source of the article.

Today's Topics:

   1. Crushing the insurgency and stabilising Iraq (Yasser Alaskary)
   2. Coalition war crimes (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
   3. Health Care in Iraq (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
   4. Galloway wins Saddam libel case (bluepilgrim)
   5. Fwd: [anti-allawi-group] Unembedded: An Interview With Dahr Jamail (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
   6. The quiet of destruction and death (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
   7. Bush links UN funding to oil-for-food investigation (Jonathan Stevenson)
   8. White House getting used to idea of Shia government (Jonathan Stevenson)

--__--__--

Message: 1
From: "Yasser Alaskary" <ya1980@DELETETHIShotmail.com>
To: <casi-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk>
Subject: Crushing the insurgency and stabilising Iraq
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 08:42:33 -0000

Crushing the insurgency and stabilising Iraq
The need for a brave decision from Washington

By Sama Hadad
Monday, November 23, 2004
Published: openDemocracy

American and new Iraqi forces rapidly occupied the insurgent stronghold city
of Falluja and are almost in complete control. While the military campaign
has been a success the fact there was a need for Operation Phantom Fury
signals a significant failure of policy - namely that of
're-Ba'athification'.
Following the fall of Saddam, Ayad Allawi, along with his supporters in
Washington, fiercely opposed both de-Baathification, and the disbanding of
the former Saddam army. Because Allawi's Iraqi National Accord draws its
support from former Baathists and the Sunni elite, his opposition to the
de-Baathification policy is understandable.

Whilst American forces had Falluja in a tight grip in April, mounting
international pressure and civilian casualties led Washington to abandon its
year-old de-Baathification policy and to resort to forming the Falluja
Brigade made up of former Baathists. This signaled the beginning of a wave
of appointments of high ranking Baathists to top security service and
government posts - just as Allawi had been advocating. Their thinking was
that appointing former Sunni elite and Baathists in positions of power would
kill two birds with one stone: make use of their 'expertise' as well as
appease the Sunni population.

Falluja was left in the hands of a newly formed Falluja Brigade, under the
command of Jasim Muhammed Salih. To the embarrassment of the CPA, Salih was
removed days after his appointment because opposition mounted against his
past as a chief of staff of one of Saddam's Republican Guard Brigades and
participation in the bloody quelling of the 1991 uprising. The Falluja
Brigade command was then handed to a former Saddam intelligence officer,
Mohammed Abdul Latif. As insurgency activity unsurprisingly soared once more
in Falluja, coalition forces eventually found the Falluja Brigade to be
working 'with them' by day and planning and executing insurgency activity by
night. The Brigade was eventually disbanded in September.

Whilst the mess of the Falluja Brigade symbolises the incompetence of the
're-Baathification' policy and has served to bring us full circle back to
where we were in April, there have been far more dangerous repercussions of
this policy. Allawi's aggressive re-Baathification of the government and
security services has paved the way for such people as Amer al-Hashimi to be
appointed chief of staff of Iraq's new army. Al-Hashimi, a Salafi ex-Major
General in Saddam's army, was eventually fired last August as it became
apparent he was supplying Salafi insurgents with intelligence and appointing
them to high ranks in the new army. More worryingly, not only was al-Hashimi
replaced by Mohammed Abdul-Qadr, former Baathist Governor of Mosul and
deputy chief of staff under Saddam, but al-Hashimi himself has since been
appointed an advisor to the Ministry of Defence.

Allawi's policy has also seen the appointment of Talib Al-Lahibi as
commander of the new Iraqi National Guard for the province of Diyala.
Al-Lahibi, a former Saddam officer, was eventually arrested in September as
it came to light he was leading the insurgency in Diyala.

What may prove to be Allawi's most close-to-home re-Baathification blunder,
was his appointment of former Baathist, Yousef Khalaf Mahmood, as head of
security for the Iraqi interim cabinet - an individual who would never have
been appointed to such a post under de-Baathification. Mahmood was arrested
at the end of October after it transpired he was working with the insurgents
and had supplied them with the names and addresses of every government
official and ministerial staff. Six staff and their family members have
already been murdered in their homes. Such a grave mistake will serve to
keep insurgents busy for months to come. And so, the very people Iraq is
relying upon to help its rebuilding and democratisation are now sitting
ducks.

Thanks to the active reinstatement of Sunni elite and former Baathists,
leadership of the new Iraqi security forces is once again Sunni-dominated,
as it had been the four decades under Saddam. The weeks and months have
proved that not only are high ranking Sunnis exacerbating Iraq's insecurity,
but even low ranking Sunnis cannot be relied upon to carry out their
duties - in one Iraqi unit alone in Operation Phantom Fury, some 100 Sunni
soldiers chose to desert their posts en route to Falluja. So it's not a
surprise that we find ourselves in the position we are in and one thing is
certain - relying on the same pillars of power as Saddam did will ensure
continued infiltrations, desertions and insurgency.

Most commentators and political advisors are now correctly identifying the
need for a political solution to couple the current military operation in
Falluja. However, they seem to have learnt nothing from the past, as they
are now advocating the same policy that was adopted six months ago: calling
for increased Sunni and 'clean' Baathist representation in order to somehow
appease the Sunni population.
Washington needs to be brave enough to discard Allawi's policy of
re-Baathification and Sunni-dominance and advocate what reality on the
ground has pointed to time and time again: de-Baathification coupled with
Shia-dominance in the leadership of the new security forces is the only
long-term option to crushing the insurgency and moving Iraq towards
democracy.


Sama Hadad is the spokeswoman for the Iraqi Prospect Organisation, a
pro-democracy group based in Baghdad and London.
http://www.iprospect.org.uk



--__--__--

Message: 2
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:37:27 EST
Subject: Coalition war crimes
To: Intelligentminds@yahoogroups.com, newsclippings@casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]


_http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041213&s=schuman_
(http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041213&s=schuman)


The Nation - Nov 26,  2004

Falluja's Health  Damage

By Miles Schuman

While the North American news media have focused
on the military triumph of US Marines in Falluja,  little
attention has been paid to reports that US armed  forces
killed scores of patients in an attack on a Falluja  health
center and have deprived civilians of medical care,
food and water.


Although the US military has dismissed accounts
of the health center bombing as "unsubstantiated,"
in fact they are credible and come from multiple
sources. Dr. Sami al-Jumaili described how US
warplanes bombed the Central Health Centre in
which he was working at 5:30 am on November  9.


The clinic had been treating many of the city's  sick
and wounded after US forces took over the main
hospital at the start of the invasion.


According to Dr. al-Jumaili, US warplanes dropped
three bombs on the clinic, where approximately
sixty patients--many  of whom had serious injuries
from US aerial  bombings and attacks - were being
treated.


Dr. al-Jumaili reports that thirty-five patients  were
killed in the airstrike, including two girls and  three
boys under the age of 10. In addition, he said,
fifteen medics, four nurses and five health support
staff were killed, among them health aides Sami
Omar and Omar Mahmoud, nurses Ali Amini and
Omar Ahmed, and physicians Muhammad Abbas,
Hamid Rabia, Saluan al-Kubaissy and Mustafa
Sheriff.


Although the deaths of these individual health
workers could not be independently confirmed,
Dr. al-Jumaili's account is echoed by Fadhil
Badrani, an Iraqi reporter for Reuters and the
BBC.


Reached by phone in Falluja, Badrani estimated
that forty patients and fifteen health workers had
been killed in the bombing. Dr. Eiman al-Ani of
Falluja General Hospital, who said he reached the
site shortly after the attack, said that the entire
health center had collapsed on the  patients.


It was well-known that the Falluja facility was
a health center operating as a small hospital, a
protected institution under international law.
According to James Ross of Human Rights
Watch, "the onus would be on the US
government to demonstrate that the hospital
was being used for military purposes and that
its response was proportionate. Even if there
were snipers there, it would never justify
destroying a hospital."


US airstrikes also leveled a warehouse in  which
medical supplies were stored next to the health
center, Dr. al-Jumaili reports. Ambulances from
the city had been confiscated by the government,
he says, and the only vehicle left was targeted by
US fire, killing the driver and wounding a
paramedic. Hamid Salaman of the Falluja
General Hospital told the Associated Press that
five patients in the ambulance were  killed.


US and allied Iraqi military forces stormed the
Falluja General Hospital, which is on the
perimeter of the city, at the beginning of the
assault, claiming it was under insurgent control
and was a center of propaganda about civilian
casualties during last April's attack on the city.


The soldiers encountered no resistance. Dr.
Rafe Chiad, the hospital's director, reached by
phone, stated emphatically that it is a neutral
institution, providing humanitarian aid. According
to Dr. Chiad, the US military has prevented
hospital physicians, including a team of surgeons,
anesthesiologists, internists and general
practitioners, from entering Falluja.


US authorities have denied all requests to send
doctors, ambulances, medical equipment and
supplies from the hospital into the city to tend
to the wounded, he said. Now the city's only
health facility is a small Iraqi military clinic,
which is inaccessible to most of the city's
remaining population because of its distance
from many neighborhoods and the dangers
posed by US snipers and crossfire.


"Falluja is dying," said Dr. al-Ani. "We want
to save whoever we can." Jim Welsh, health
and human rights coordinator for Amnesty
International in London, notes that under the
Geneva Conventions, "medical personnel
cannot be forced to refrain from providing
healthcare which they believe is their
ethical responsibility." The 173-bed Falluja
General Hospital remains empty, according
to Dr. Chiad.


The Iraqi Red Crescent Society has called  the
health conditions in and around Falluja
"catastrophic." One hospital staff member who
recently left the city reports that there were
severe outbreaks of  diarrheal infections  among
the population, with children and the elderly
dying from infectious disease, starvation and
dehydration in greater numbers each day.


Dr. al-Jumaili, Dr. al-Ani and journalist Badrani
each stated that the wounded and children are
dying because of lack of medical attention and
water.


In one case, according to Dr. al-Jumaili, three
children died of dehydration when their  father
was unable to find water for them. The US
forces cut off the city's water supply before
launching their assault.


"The people are dying because they are injured,
have nothing to eat or drink, almost no
healthcare," said Dr. al-Ani. "The small rations
of food and water handed out by the US
soldiers cannot provide for the population." For
the thousands living in makeshift camps outside
the city, according to Firdus al-Ubadi of the Red
Crescent Society, hygiene and health conditions
are as precarious as in Falluja. There are no oral
rehydration solutions or salts for those who are
dehydrated, she says.


These reports demand an immediate international
response, an end to assaults on Falluja's  civilian
population and the free passage of  medical  aid,
food and water. Louise Arbour, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, has vowed
to investigate "violations of the rules of war
designed to protect civilians and combatants" in
Falluja and to bring the perpetrators to justice.


The San Francisco-based Association of
Humanitarian Lawyers has petitioned the
Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights of the Organization of American
States to investigate the deaths. The bombing
of hospitalized patients, forced starvation and
dehydration, denial of medicines and health
services to the sick and wounded must be
recognized for what they are: war crimes
and crimes against humanity.


[Miles Schuman is a family physician and
member of the medical network of the
Canadian Centre for Victims of  Torture



--__--__--

Message: 3
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 16:18:14 EST
Subject: Health Care in Iraq
To: Intelligentminds@yahoogroups.com, newsclippings@casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]


200 Children Die Every Day
By GHALI HASSAN

Since the US  military invasion and occupation of Iraq, Iraq's health
care system has  deteriorated as a result of deliberate destruction
by the US administration.  The most vulnerable victims of this
destruction are the Iraqi children,  particularly children under the
age of five.

A detailed new study by  the British-based charity organisation
(Medact) that examines the impact of  war on health, revealed cases
of vaccine-preventable diseases were rising  and relief and
reconstruction work had been mismanaged. Gill Reeve, the  deputy
director of Medact who released the report said, "[t]he health of
the Iraqi people has deteriorated since the 2003 invasion ... The
2003  war not only created the conditions for further health decline,
but also  damaged the ability of Iraqi society to reverse it".

A second report, to  be released soon, revealed that acute
malnutrition among Iraqi children  between the ages of six months and
5 years has increased from 4% before the  invasion to 7.7% since the
US invasion of Iraq. In other words, despite the  13-years sanctions,
Iraqi children were living much better (by 3.7%) under  the regime of
Saddam Hussein than under the Occupation.

The report,  which was conducted by the Norway-based Institute of
Applied International  Studies, or Fafo, in cooperation with the
Iraq's Central Office for  Statistics and Information Technology,
Iraq's Health Ministry, and the UN  Development Program (UNDP), shows
that about 400,000 Iraqi children are  suffering from 'wasting'
and 'emaciation' &shy; conditions of chronic  diarrhoea and protein
deficiency.

A recent UNICEF report shows that,  "[b]efore 1990 and the imposition
of sanctions, Iraq had one of the highest  standards of living in the
Middle East". Now UNICEF reports, "at least 200  children are dying
every day. They are dying from malnutrition, a lack of  clean water
and a lack of medical equipment and drugs to cure easily  treatable
diseases". The UNICEF report shows that, child mortality was not
getting any better since the conflict started in 2003 and that the
death  rate among children was rising.

UNICEF estimates that there are about  6,880 deaths of children under
the age of five every year in Iraq, with an  under-fives mortality
rate of 125 per 1,000 live births. Furthermore, the  mortality rate
of Iraqi women during pregnancy and childbirth has reached  three
times the rate reported during the period between 1989 and 2002, a
study by the United Nations Population Fund reported.

A medical  delegation from the American Friends Service Committee
found that years of  sanctions "have had their severest impact on
families and children there,  producing a generation of young people
weakened by disease, isolated from  the outside world and left to
feed on feelings of bitterness and injustice".  In its report, the
delegation noted that, "the consequences of the sanctions  fall most
heavily on children. While adults can endure long periods of
hardship and privation, children's physiological immaturity and
vulnerability provide them with less resistance. They are put at
greater  risk and are less likely to survive persistent shortages" of
food and health  care.

Earlier report by the UN stated that before the first US war, "Iraq
had an extensive national health care network. Primary care services
were available to 97% of the urban population and 71% of the rural
population". Every Iraqi citizen had the right to free health care
provided by the government. In 1991, Iraq had 1,800 primary health
centres, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF.

As a result  of US war and sanctions, a decade later that number had
fallen to 929, of  which a third require serious rehabilitation, one
of the most pressing needs  to date.

The US-British sponsored sanctions and wars against the Iraqi  people
have killed more than 2 million Iraqi civilians, a third of them
were children under the age of five. Iraq's health care and
education  systems were deliberately targeted for destruction.

Under the US-UN  imposed sanctions, Iraq's public health care system
has eroded at every  level. Life-saving medical supplies such as
chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics,  vaccines etc., are either banned or
delayed under the dual-use policy.  Medical equipments that Iraq was
allowed to import were either blocked from  delivery by US-Britain or
the shipments were almost invariably incomplete  and of unusable
quality.

Using the usual mask of the UN, "the US had  prevented the normal
importation of indispensable items of equipment for  more than a
decade" wrote Tom Nagy of George Washington University. In his
research on the effect of sanctions on Iraq's water and the health
care  system, Nagy found that the US "intentionally destroying
whatever had  remained of Iraq's water system within six months by
using sanctions to  prevent the import of a mere handful of items of
equipment and chemicals"  that are vital for the treatment of water.

During the US assault on  Fallujah, US forces cut off water and
electricity to the city of 300,000  people. US air strikes have
destroyed hospitals and medical centres. The US  took over the
Fallujah General Hospital and converted to a military  hospital, thus
denying the citizens of Fallujah any health care service. On  09
November 2004, US warplanes attacked the Nazzal Emergency Hospital
in  the centre of the city and completely destroyed it. Thirty-five
patients  were killed, including five children under the ages of 10
years. According  to Amnesty International, "20 Iraqi medical staff
[doctors and nurses] and  dozens of other civilians were killed when
a missile hit a Fallujah clinic  on 09 November 2004". The air strike
also destroyed the hospital medical  supplies warehouse. The
destruction of Fallujah is a crime against  humanity.

As of today, the exact number of civilians killed by the US  assault
on Fallujah is not known. According to an official in the Allawi's
puppet "government", "more than 2085" Iraqis have been killed. US
forces  used internationally banned weapons such as napalm,
phosphorous weapons and  jet fuel, which makes the human body melt,
to attack the city in violation  of international law. Medact has
also called on US forces to re-evaluate the  use of these illegal
weapons in populated areas, given the high rate of  civilian
casualties.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society was prevented by  US forces from
entering the city to provide supplies to the wounded  civilians, and
called the health conditions in and around Fallujah  "catastrophic".
Eyewitnesses say most of the victims are civilians,  including,
women, children, and unarmed men between the ages of 14-60 years
old, who were prevented from leaving the city before the US
onslaught.  Furthermore, many children have died as a result of
starvation, dehydration  and outbreaks of diarrhoeal infections.
UNICEF Executive Director Carol  Bellamy said that the death of
was "an unconscionable slaughter of  innocents". "The killing of
children is a crime and a moral outrage",  Bellamy added.

Medact says: "The war is a continuing public health  disaster that
was predictable - and should have been preventable". It added
that, "[e]xcess deaths and injuries and high levels of illness are
the  direct and indirect results of ongoing conflict". According to
the Medact,  Iraq had also experienced an alarming recurrence of
previously  well-controlled communicable diseases, including acute
respiratory  infections, diarrhoea and typhoid, particularly among
children.

The  Medact study found that, "[o]ne in four people in Iraq were now
dependent on  food aid, and there were more children underweight or
chronically  malnourished than before the US invasion". The near
disappearance of  immunisation programmes had contributed to the
recurrence of death and  illness from preventable disease, and infant
mortality rose due to a lack of  access to skilled help in
childbirth, as well as to violence, confirming the  Fafo report.

The Fafo report paints a catastrophic picture of Iraq's  health care
under US Occupation. "It's in the level of some African  countries",
Jon Pedersen, deputy-managing director of the Norway-based  Institute
told The Associated Press. "Of course, no child should be
malnourished, but when we're getting to levels of 7 to 8 percent,
it's a  clear sign of concern", he added.

Like the Fafo report, the Medact study  specifically blames the US
Occupation for the deteriorating conditions in  Iraq's health and the
tactics of the US-led occupying forces for  exacerbating the
country's health problems, particularly the decision to  sideline the
UN. Unreliable supplies of electricity have made it hard to  boil
water for safe drinking. The destruction of Iraq's infrastructure,
including the sewage and water systems has exacerbated the problem
and  led to increase in outbreaks of virulent diseases such as
hepatitis. More  that 20% of urban residents and 60% of rural Iraqis
don't have access to  clean water, as a result of the destruction of
Iraq's infrastructure.  According to the Medact report: "twelve
percent of Iraq's hospitals were  damaged during the war and the
country's two main public health laboratories  were also destroyed".

In order to foster the sale Iraqi assets and  resources, the US must
render them useless first. The deliberate targeting  of Iraq's health
care system for destruction is part of the illegal armed  conquest of
Iraq. The objective is quite clear: the cheap sale of Iraqi  assets
and resources to US corporations.
The US is unable to provide all  Iraqis with acceptable and equal
health care. Health care in the US is worse  than any of the
developing countries, with appalling statistics. The US is  one of
the few countries in the world that does not provide universal
health care for children and pregnant women. Infant mortality, low
birth  weight, and child deaths under five are ranked among the
highest in the U.S.  as compared to Western industrial nations and
Japan.
According to Gill  Reeve, of Medact: "Immediate action is needed to
halt this health disaster".  The best and lasting solution to the
humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq is for  the US to stop the violence
against the Iraqi people, withdraw its forces  from Iraq, and
restoration of Iraq's sovereignty. The current interim  US-
appointed "government" is illegitimate. Iraq's sovereignty should be
restored to ensure the peaceful rehabilitation of Iraq's
infrastructure  and health care system.

Ghali Hassan lives in Perth Western Australia:  He can be reached at
e-mail:
G.Hassan@exchange.curtin.edu.au




--__--__--

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 09:43:43 -0600
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
From: bluepilgrim <bluepilgrim@DELETETHISgrics.net>
Subject: Galloway wins Saddam libel case

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4061165.stm

Last Updated: Thursday, 2 December, 2004, 13:49 GMT
902c6.jpg



Galloway wins Saddam libel case
[photo]
George Galloway said he was 'angry' after the case.

MP George Galloway has been awarded =A3150,000 in libel damages from the
Daily Telegraph over claims he received money from Saddam Hussein's regime
in Iraq.

The Glasgow Kelvin MP was awarded the damages in compensation for articles
published by the paper in April 2003.

He had denied ever seeking or receiving money from Saddam Hussein's
government, which he said he had long opposed.

The newspaper said it was in the public interest to publish the claims,
based on documents found in Baghdad.

Mr Justice Eady said he was "obliged to compensate Mr Galloway... and to
make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation".

Outside the court, Mr Galloway said: "I had to risk absolute and utter ruin
to bring this case.

"If I had lost I would have been homeless, I would have had everything I
possess taken from me and would have been bankrupted and forced out of
public office.

" I don't feel in any way happy about the award of =A3150,000 "
George Galloway


<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics//1/hi/uk_politics/4061917.stm>Profi=
le
of the MP

"In those circumstances I don't feel in any way happy about the award of
=A3150,000.

"I feel angry that I have been effectively banished from the floor of the
House of Commons for more than a year, I have had to risk everything to
bring this action.

"I feel angry against [former telegraph owner] Conrad Black, [former
editor] Charles Moore and [Lord Black's wife] Barbara Amiel."

A Telegraph spokesman said the judgment was "a blow to the principle of
freedom of expression in this country".

The newspaper was refused permission to appeal although it can apply to the
Court of Appeal direct to take the case further.

Following publication in April 2003, an investigation was begun by the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

[photo]
Mr Galloway was a regular visitor to Baghdad

Neil Darbyshire, the newspaper's executive editor, said questions arising
from the Iraqi documents still needed to be answered by the commissioner.

"It has never been the Telegraph's case to suggest that the allegations
contained in these documents are true," he said outside court on Thursday.

"These documents were published by us because their contents raised some
very serious questions at a crucial stage in the war against Iraq.

"The Telegraph did not and could not perform a detailed investigation into
their contents."

He added: "When we published the documents we did so believing that their
contents were important, should be made public and would in due course be
investigated by the proper authorities."

'Seriously defamatory'

Mr Justice Eady imposed a "stay" on damages and costs pending the outcome
of any such application, which is likely to be in the New Year.

Mr Galloway said costs amounted to =A31.25m.

The judge said the allegations were "seriously defamatory" of Mr Galloway.

He said readers of the Telegraph claims may have understood them to mean:


"It was the defendants' primary case that their coverage was no more than
'neutral reportage' ...but the nature, content and tone of their coverage
cannot be so described "
Mr Justice Eady


Mr Galloway had been in Saddam's pay, secretly receiving about =A3375,000 a
year.

He diverted monies from the oil-for-food programme, thus depriving the
Iraqi people of food and medicines.

He probably used the Mariam Appeal, a campaign Mr Galloway launched to
raise money for an Iraqi girl with leukaemia, as a front for personal
enrichment.

What he had done was tantamount to treason.

Mr Justice Eady said: "It was the defendants' primary case that their
coverage was no more than 'neutral reportage' of documents discovered by a
reporter in the badly-damaged foreign ministry in Baghdad, but the nature,
content and tone of their coverage cannot be so described."

Telegraph foreign correspondent David Blair had earlier told the judge how
he had found the documents inside the Iraqi foreign ministry.

[ 902c6.jpg of type image/jpeg removed by lists.casi.org.uk -
   attachments are not permitted on the CASI lists ]





--__--__--

Message: 5
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 12:40:45 EST
Subject: Fwd: [anti-allawi-group] Unembedded: An Interview With Dahr Jamail
To: Intelligentminds@yahoogroups.com, newsclippings@casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]


In a message dated 02/12/04 14:17:32 GMT Standard Time,  kelebdooni@yahoo.c=
om
writes:

To learn what it's really  like, this is a good beginning. This talk sums i=
t
all. In this  interview, Jamail starts with his personal background and wor=
k,
and goes  on to portray the current Iraqi scene in all its colors: how  peo=
ple
live and what they feel about their kind of life, their  reactions to the
resistance, its nature and composition, the  allawi state, the elections, t=
he
occupation, the sectarian issue, and  whatever may come next. It's all here=
.


    December 2, 2004
by Charles  Shaw
_Newtopia_ (http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/content/issue19/index.php)

Newtopia: Give  us a little background on yourself. Where did you grow up, =
go
to school?  Where have you lived? What's been your professional background?
What  were your main social, political, and cultural influences?         _D=
ahr
Jamail's article archive on  Antiwar.com_ (http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/)
Dahr Jamail: I was born and raised in  Houston, Texas, and attended college=
 a
t Texas A&M University where I  majored in Speech Communications. After
graduating, I moved to Colorado,  then Utah, then Washington state, where I=
 worked
for awhile on a masters  in English literature. Funds ran out, so I took a =
job
working in an  air-monitoring laboratory on Johnston Island, a U.S. territo=
ry
in the  middle of the Pacific Ocean. We monitored the air at a chemical
demilitarization plant that incinerated 6% of the chemical weapons (now  ob=
solete)
of the military.
While there, I traveled around the world on my  breaks from the monotonous
job. The perspective and experiences I gained  from my travels opened my mi=
nd
and heart to the world =E2=80=93 seeing the  unearned and unfair privilege =
we in the
U.S. had struck me whilst  traveling to so many developing countries like
Indonesia and Palau, then  later Nepal.
I had a calling to move to Alaska to climb  Denali. I moved there in 1996,
climbed Denali the next summer, and have  stayed ever since. There I worked=
 as a
mountain guide during summers, as  well as assisting in rescues with the pa=
rk
service. My life there for  five years centered primarily on climbing and
being in the mountains.  Climbing found me traveling to Mexico, Pakistan, C=
hile,
and  Argentina.
One of the largest influences on me was a job I  took in the climbing
off-season, which was working as a personal  assistant for my dear friend D=
uane
French, who experiences quadriplegia.  I saw the efforts he went to just to=
 exist,
and how government policy  directly affected his life. Here I was awakened
politically. Our daily  discussions of policy and political parties got my =
wheels
turning,  pulling me out of the classic American comfort zone of apathy and
ignorance.
Then, of course, watching the stealing of the  presidency in 2000 by the Bu=
sh
regime shocked me further into action,  followed by the military response t=
o
9/11, then of course the selling of  the Iraq invasion. During the media se=
ll
job, I could take no more and  knew that this was an information war. I had
done some freelance writing  for various magazines and continued this by wr=
iting
in our alternative  weekly rag in Anchorage.
We did a good job showing the alternative view  after the events of 9/11,
showing the U.S. support of bin Laden, who the  Reagan administration funde=
d and
trained them, etc. Shortly thereafter,  our editor was fired, so the entire
staff left in protest within one  month.
So I started saving my money and came to the  front lines to start telling
the truth from Iraq in November 2003.
Newtopia: How long have you been reporting  on Iraq, and what brought you
there?
DJ: I have spent six of the last 12 months  in Iraq. As I mentioned, what
brought me here was the nearly total  failure of the U.S. "mainstream" medi=
a to
show the truth of this illegal  invasion and occupation. How it affected th=
e
Iraqis, as well as U.S.  soldiers. Overall, they just weren't doing their j=
ob,
and this has grown  even worse.
I had done all the usual actions of attempting to  speak up and effect chan=
ge
at home =E2=80=93 calling and writing  Senators/Congresspeople, attending t=
each-ins,
spreading information.  After watching the worldwide demonstrations on
February 15, 2003 be  brushed aside as a "focus group," I knew then that th=
e minds of
the  American public had been misled by the corporate media who mindlessly
supported the objectives of the Bush regime, and reporting the true  effect=
s of
the invasion/occupation on the Iraqi people and U.S. soldiers  was what I
needed to do.
Newtopia: What is it like being one of the  only "unembedded" journalists
operating in the country? Do you fear for  your safety, and what have you d=
one to
ensure your safety? Whom do you  fear more, random kidnappers or the Americ=
an
military? How do you manage  to move through Iraqi society now when it
appears that, in the wake of  Margaret Hassan's murder, all Westerners are =
viable
targets? And on that  same note, what do the Iraqis think of the kidnapping=
s,
murders, and  beheadings?
DJ: It's tough. Working in this  environment of media repression and danger
is always an uphill battle.  Blinking electricity, car bombs, kidnappings a=
re
the playing field. I  constantly monitor my safety factor and those who wor=
k
with me. I grew a  beard, dress like locals, and only travel around covertl=
y
with one  interpreter in a beat up car. I minimize my time on the street, w=
hile
at  the same time spending enough there to get the Iraqis reactions to what
unfolds here each day.
My greatest concern is the reaction of my own  government. I'm reporting
information that the Bush regime wants kept  under wraps. I fear reprisal f=
rom
both the government and military far,  far more than being kidnapped or blo=
wn up
by a car bomb.
Iraqis are of course shocked and outraged by the  beheadings and kidnapping=
s
of people like Margaret Hassan. So many also  believe it was a CIA/Mossad p=
lot
to keep aid organizations and  journalists out of Iraq in order to give the
military and corporations  here a free hand to continue to disassemble and =
sell
off the  country.
Newtopia: On Nov. 18 in one of your  dispatches you wrote, "Journalists are
increasingly being detained and  threatened by the U.S.-installed interim
government in Iraq. Media have  been stopped particularly from covering rec=
ent
horrific events in  Fallujah." What are the predominant differences between=
 your
reporting  and that of the corporate media and embedded reporters, or that =
of
Iraqi  and Muslim journalists? In other words, what does each group do with=
 the
 same pieces of information? Do you feel you have a freer hand by being
"unembedded"? Have you or anyone you know been intimidated or harassed  in =
any
way?
DJ: Myself and most Arab and Western  independent journalists here show the
costs of war. Report the  massacres, the slaughter, the dead and wounded ki=
ds,
disaster that this  occupation truly is for the Iraqi people. Report on the
low morale of  most soldiers here, report on how doctors now state openly t=
hat
due to  lack of funds and help from the US-backed Ministry of Health, they =
feel
 it is worse now than during the sanctions.
I do feel I have more freedom because I am  "unembedded." I'm flying under
the mainstream radar of  censorship.
I have been attacked from some mainstream sources  and pundits. Fox
propaganda channel invited me on after I accurately  reported the sniping o=
f
ambulances, medical workers, and civilians in  Fallujah last April =E2=80=
=A6 I declined the
setup because I didn't have a  desire to have my character assassinated.
My Web site has taken some attacks by hackers =E2=80=A6  but so far we've m=
anaged the
onslaught. I receive some hate mail via my  site, and have received one dea=
th
threat =E2=80=A6 so far.
Newtopia: The U.S. corporate media  consistently characterize the Iraqi
resistance as "foreign terrorists  and former Ba'athist insurgents." In you=
r
experience, is this an  accurate portrayal? If not, why?
DJ: This is propaganda of the worst kind.  Most Iraqis refer to the Iraqi
resistance as "patriots." Which, of  course, most of them are =E2=80=93 the=
y are,
especially in Fallujah, primarily  composed of people who simply are resist=
ing the
occupation of their  country by a foreign power. They are people who have h=
ad
family members  killed, detained, tortured, and humiliated by the illegal
occupiers of  their shattered country.
Calling them "foreign terrorists" and "Ba'athist  insurgents" is simply a
lie. While there are small elements of these,  they are distinctly differen=
t from
the Iraqi resistance, who are now  supported by, very conservatively at lea=
st
80% of the population  here.
There are terrorist elements here, but that is  because the borders of Iraq
have been left wide open since the invasion.  These did not exist in Iraq
before.
The Bush regime likes to refer to anyone who does  not support their ideolo=
gy
and plans for global domination as a  "terrorist."
Here, these fighters in the Iraqi resistance are  referred to as freedom
fighters, holy warriors, and patriots.
Newtopia: We rarely see any substantial  imagery coming out of Iraq in the
U.S. corporate media. What does Iraq  look like now? What aren't the people=
 in
the United States seeing, and  what do you feel they should be seeing?
DJ: The devastation. The massive suffering  and devastation of the people a=
nd
their country. Baghdad remains in  shambles 19 months into this illegal
occupation. Bombed buildings sit as  insulting reminders of broken promises=
 of
reconstruction.
Bullet ridden mosques with blood stained carpets  inside where worshippers,
unarmed, have been slaughtered by soldiers.
Entire families living on the street. 70%  unemployment with no hope of thi=
s
changing. Chaotic, clogged streets of  Baghdad and 5-mile-long petrol lines=
 in
this oil rich  country.
Engineers and doctors, unemployed, driving their  cars as a taxi to try to
feed their families.
The seething anger in the eyes of people on the  streets as U.S. patrols
rumble past.
Iraqis now cheering when another U.S. patrol or  base is attacked. Dancing =
on
the burning U.S. military  hardware.
Dead and maimed U.S. soldiers. The wounded  screaming and writhing in agony=
.
Their shattered families.
The mass graves of innocent Fallujans after the  utter destruction of their
city.
Children deformed by depleted uranium exposure  lying in shattered hospital=
s,
suffering from lack of treatment, or even  pain medications.
Dead, rotting bodies in the streets of Fallujah  of women and children bein=
g
eaten by dogs and cats because the military  did not allow relief teams int=
o
the city for nearly two  weeks.
Newtopia: What are the sentiments of the  Iraqis you have spoken with towar=
d
the Americans? Is there any good will  left? Was there any to begin with? W=
hat
do they think of Allawi, the  pending "elections," the continued occupation=
,
the American-trained  Iraqi security forces? Do they have any hope or belie=
f
that the  Americans will leave, or are they thinking this will be a
generation-long occupation?
DJ: There was support by most Iraqis for  the removal of Saddam Hussein. Bu=
t
that started to ebb quickly on in the  occupation as people watched family
members killed, detained, tortured,  and humiliated by the occupation force=
s.
Then there was Abu Ghraib. I cannot stress enough  how devastating this was
to U.S. credibility in Iraq, and the entire  Middle East.
Throw on top of that the April siege of Fallujah,  nearly complete lack of
reconstruction, importation of foreign workers  to do jobs Iraqis are far m=
ore
qualified for, the installation of an  illegal interim government, and you =
have
a complete PR disaster for the  U.S. here.
Any credibility for the occupiers, and I doubt  there was much to speak of,
after the destruction of Fallujah has been  lost. Iraqis I speak with are
infuriated at the U.S. government. While  they are well aware that what is =
most
likely the majority of people in  the U.S. being in opposition to the Bush
regime, they believe the U.S.  government and those who support it are guil=
ty of war
crimes of the  worst kind. I see rage, grief, and the desire for revenge on=
 a
daily  basis here.
They hate Allawi. They have no respect for him or  any other of the puppets
in the U.S.-installed interim government,  because they don't see how any
self-respecting person would allow  themselves to be a puppet of the U.S. i=
n this
illegal, brutal endeavor.
They are well aware that he is an exile who has  been linked with the CIA a=
nd
British intel for a long, long time. He and  the rest of the interim
government are viewed as thieves, rapists, and  U.S. pawns. They are utterl=
y loathed,
as everyone here knows these  people do not have the interests of the Iraqi
people in mind.
The elections are viewed as a joke. Most here now  believe there is no way
they can be held in an honest, transparent and  truly democratic way. Most =
are
also too afraid to vote. I've heard  people say things like, "The Americans
won't even allow a legitimate  election in their own country, so why would =
they
want to have one  here!"
The Iraqi "security" forces, being the police and  national guard, are view=
ed
by most as surrogates of the U.S. military.  They are viewed as collaborato=
rs
and traitors by most. While people  understand many of these forces join ou=
t
of desperation because there  are no jobs, they remain loathed, along with =
the
foreign occupation  forces. It doesn't help when many of the police are
actively involved in  organized crime.
Lastly, the occupation is viewed as endless.  Iraqis know there are already
fourpermanent military bases here, and  more soldiers coming. There is litt=
le
hope amongst those I talk with  about this topic that the occupation will e=
nd.
Newtopia: We've read substantive reports  recently that over 100,000 innoce=
nt
Iraqi civilians have been killed  since the war began. What is your take on
this report, and what have you  seen that either supports or contradicts it=
? Is
the U.S. military  indiscriminately targeting civilians, or are they just
hopelessly inept,  or is it something in-between?
DJ: I think this report has understated  the death toll. From what I've see=
n
during my six months here, it is  increasingly difficult to find a family h=
ere
who has not had at least  one member killed by either the military or
criminal activity. Entire  neighborhoods in Fallujah have been bombed into =
rubble.
Houses with  entire families have been incinerated and blown to pieces.
The random gunfire of soldiers nearly every time  a patrol or convoy is
attacked almost always results in civilian deaths.  Keep in mind there are =
now over
100 attacks per day on U.S. forces in  occupied Iraq.
Then we have the infrastructure =E2=80=93 people dying  from lack of food, =
water
borne diseases, inadequate health care =E2=80=A6 the  list is longer than a=
ny of us know.
I think the military is killing so many civilians  for several reasons.
Primarily, because they have been put in an  untenable situation by their
commander-in-chief =E2=80=93 that is, a no-win  guerilla war against an ene=
my who now has the
massive support of the  populace. Thus, anyone, anytime could be an attacke=
r.
So they are  shooting first and asking questions later because they are sca=
red
to  death.
They are using a conventional military to fight a  guerilla war =E2=80=93 a=
nd just as
in Vietnam, it is a disaster and utter  failure.
Then there are the soldiers who have completely  dehumanized Iraqis, and I'=
ve
spoken with some who seem to actually enjoy  killing them.
Of course, it doesn't help that this is  sanctioned and encouraged by the
U.S. government, and that blinding  religious ideology appears to have filt=
ered
down into many of the  soldiers here. "You are either with us, or you are
against us." Iraq is  now full of fields of death. There is carnage in the =
streets
everyday in  Baghdad, as well as other cities throughout much of the countr=
y.

Newtopia: There has been a lot of  speculation about the role of oil in the
occupation. Americans were told  that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the =
war
and reconstruction, but  there is no oil coming out of Iraq after more than=
 18
months. Certain  journalists and activists ranging from Jim Marrs to Mike
Ruppert to  Peter Camejo have all stated, in some form or other, that this =
was
never  the intention, that the idea was to first remove Iraqi oil from the
world market, thereby driving up oil prices (the profits mainly landing  in=
 the
pockets of the Saudis), and eventually to co-opt the oil supply  to sell to
China and India as their energy demands skyrocket. What have  you seen in r=
egards
to oil activity? Also, _Iraq Coalition Casualty_
(http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx)  was the only outlet to report on=
 a series of coordinated
attacks on the Iraqi oil infrastructure all this week. This has gone  compl=
etely u
nreported in the U.S. corporate media. Do you believe this  lack of reporti=
ng is
intentional and who do you think is sabotaging the  infrastructure?
DJ: Iraq is still importing all of its  gasoline. And from what I know, the=
y
are exporting all of the oil from  here, as well as that which is refined i=
n
Iraq, which isn't much at all,  if any.
I think the lack of reporting on the sabotaging  is akin to the lack of
reporting that there are nearly 100 attacks per  day on U.S. soldiers, or l=
ack of
reporting of lack of infrastructure,  etc. I think it all falls under the
umbrella of the mainstream media's  successful efforts to whitewash the Ira=
q
catastrophe for the Bush  administration.
It looks as though it is the resistance who are  doing the sabotaging. An
open question though, regarding what you asked,  is why is there not better
protection of the oil infrastructure?
Newtopia: We have conflicting reports in  the U.S. about the Shia and Sunni
putting aside their historical  differences to team up against the American=
s.
Do you see this happening,  and what do you believe the eventual outcome wi=
ll
be? U.S. policymakers  claim that an American withdrawal would only result =
in a
wide-scale  civil war between these two factions and the Kurds in the north=
.
Do you  believe this will be the case? Are the Iraqis in a situation now wh=
ere
 they are dammed any way they turn?
DJ: I do see this happening. During the  siege of Najaf, collections for ai=
d
at Sunni mosques were organized, as  well as resistance fighters from Fallu=
jah
who provided guns and supplies  to the Mahdi Army there. During the siege o=
f
Fallujah last April, Shia  weighed heavily in donating aid, and participate=
d
in a non-violent  action that pushed supplies into Fallujah through a U.S.
military  cordon.
The Shia/Sunni rift is largely a CIA-generated  myth. There are countless
tribes and marriages alike that are both  Shia/Sunni. There are mosques her=
e
where they pray together.
There is the possibility of war if the Kurds go  independent, but the more
likely possibility of that war would be Turkey  invading Kurdistan before a=
ny
Shia/Sunni action would occur regarding  this.
Remember the Arab proverb: "Me against my  brother. Me and my brother again=
st
my cousin. Me, my brother and cousin  against the stranger."
The Iraqis are in a situation where they are  damned as long as the U.S.
continues to occupy and subvert their  country, as they have been doing.
Newtopia: It is critically important that  Americans begin to understand th=
e
psyche of the Iraqi resistance. What  is really going on in Fallujah, Ramad=
i,
Mosul, and Baghdad? Is this a  legitimate, coordinated uprising against the
occupation, or is it a  defensive response to the U.S. escalation of the wa=
r? Or
both?  Considering that the U.S. claims they have opened a front to "take t=
he
 battle to al-Qaeda," do you see any evidence of an al-Qaeda presence, or
the presence of "foreign fighters streaming in from the Syrian border"  as =
is
also reported here?
DJ: The resistance is complex because it  has so many facets. Parts of it a=
re
simply Iraqis who don't want their  country to be occupied. Iraqis who have
had family members killed,  tortured, or humiliated by the military =E2=80=
=A6 so they
are exacting revenge.  Other parts are more organized, where individual cel=
ls
are operating in  coordinated attacks with other cells, but they remain lar=
gely
 decentralized. This is why the conventional U.S. Army will never defeat  i=
t.
Because the resistance has no face, no leader, no fixed  organization.
It is really both a defensive reaction to the  occupiers, but also is going
more on the offensive as the occupation  continues. As one Iraqi man told m=
e
once, "The invasion was America's  war on Iraq. Now we are seeing the Iraqi=
's
war against the  Americans."
I have yet to see any evidence or meet any Iraqi  who has seen evidence of
al-Qaeda here. There are certainly other  fighters entering Iraq from diffe=
rent
countries, but they are a  relatively small number. When we say "foreign
fighters" here, we must  recall that every Iraqi I've spoken with views the
occupiers as the  foreign fighters, and not any other Arab who is coming he=
re to
fight in  the resistance. Most Iraqis I speak with view these Arab fighters=
 as
brothers, and the occupiers as the "foreign fighters."
Newtopia: Tell us about the raid on the  Abu Hanifa mosque, and what it mea=
ns
in the larger scope of the  war?
DJ: At 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19, U.S.  troops and Iraqi National Guard
sealed the Abu Hanifa mosque in the  al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad. The i=
mam,
a longtime outspoken critic  of the occupation, was detained.
The raid occurred during Friday prayers, and  people began praying loudly
because they were very afraid due to the  fact that over 100 armed soldiers=
 were
pointing guns at them. They were  instructed to be quiet, but the worshippe=
rs
continued to pray, and were  fired upon. Four people were killed and at lea=
st
nine wounded, along  with 30 people detained.
This mosque had been raided at least five times  previously, with no weapon=
s
ever having had been found.
Abu Hanifa is the largest and most prominent  Sunni mosque in Iraq, as well
as one of the most important in the entire  Muslim world. This blatant act =
of
provocation (the imam could have just  as easily been detained on any given=
 day
in his office or home) has  resulted in heavy fighting throughout Baghdad a=
nd
a new curfew in  al-Adhamiya, along with home raids and more detentions.
This action will draw in even more fighters to  the resistance. This is
obviously just one step in the attempt to crush  a largely Sunni resistance=
.
Newtopia: Have you had much contact with  American troops, and if so, what
are they saying, and what is your  impression of them? Do you support NBC
reporter Kevin Sites' decision to  film and report on the murder of an unar=
med and
wounded Iraqi prisoner  this week? Do you believe this was a relatively
"isolated" incident, or  did these guys just get caught?
DJ: I've had a fair amount, but not so  much this trip. I make it a point t=
o
avoid them now since they are such  constant targets. They are being attack=
ed
at least 100 times a day as of  late. But when I interacted with them my la=
st
two trips I found most of  them to be quite scared, and morale depended on =
how
long they'd been  here. The newer folks were keeping a stiff upper lip and
staying on  message. The folks who'd been here six, nine, or 12 months were
angry,  aiming their guns at everyone, and sometimes high on drugs. Not to
generalize =E2=80=93 not all were like this. But I saw many who were, and i=
t  reminded me of
everything I've read about what happened to the psyche of  U.S. soldiers in
Vietnam.
I do support Kevin Sites' decision to film what  he did of the execution of
the old, unarmed Iraqi man in the mosque.  One-hundred percent I support th=
is.
People need to see that this is what  is occurring here =E2=80=93 and this =
is NOT an
isolated incident. Nearly every  refugee from Fallujah I've interviewed has
spoken of mass executions,  tanks rolling over the wounded in the streets, =
bodies
being thrown in  the Euphrates by the military, and other atrocities.
The footage of the execution in the mosque is  akin to the photos that came
out of Abu Ghraib. They are only the tip of  the iceberg of atrocities that
have been occurring here from the  beginning. Atrocities that are occurring=
 right
now.
Indeed, those soldiers just got caught. This is  not news, however =E2=80=
=93 because
we've even had military commanders come out  in the media and admit that th=
ey
gave orders to soldiers to shoot  anything that moved in Fallujah. What we
will see in Fallujah is that it  has been a genocide.
Newtopia: Lastly, what do you see  happening in both the immediate and
distant future in Iraq? How long do  you plan to stay? Do you believe you w=
ill sill
safely be able to report  the truth to us when so much of your reporting fl=
ies
in the face of the  so-called "official" reports and media blackout? Do you
envision an even  greater information clampdown, or do you think independen=
t
reporting is  going to become a stronger force as the U.S. digs itself into=
 a
deeper  and deeper hole?
DJ: I see more bloodshed and chaos.  Sending more troops will only speed up
the spiral here; increase the  fighting. I see a continuing degradation of =
the
infrastructure and  failing of the occupation. It has already failed. It ha=
d
failed even  before the April siege of Fallujah and the Abu Ghraib scandal
(which is  ongoing). The real question is, how many more Iraqis and soldier=
s die
before the U.S. admits to its colossal failure, makes reparations for  the
countless war crimes that have been committed, and pulls out.
The long term =E2=80=93 that depends on how long the U.S.  stays here. It i=
s rare
when I speak with an Iraqi who wants the US to  stay =E2=80=93 they say, "C=
ivil war? It
can't possibly be worse than this =E2=80=93 so  the U.S. should leave. Then=
 we'd at
least have the chance to run our own  country."
Another man pointed out that if there were a  civil war, no Shia or Kurdish
attack on Fallujah could ever possibly  compare to the devastation the U.S.
military has caused there. I think  he makes a good point.
I am concerned about my safety, of course. This  is the most dangerous plac=
e
in the world for a journalist to be,  especially those of us who are report=
ing
the reality of what is  occurring here. I have concerns of reprisal from th=
e
military and my  government =E2=80=93 because they don't like to have the f=
acts get
out. I've  consistently been a minority voice with my reporting in Iraq, wh=
ich
has  led many to discount my reports and call me biased.
Yet, I have consistently been shown to be  accurate, as have the other
independents here. An example would be that  several of us were reporting o=
n Abu
Ghraib months before the mainstream  decided to do their job and run the st=
ory.
And at the end of the day,  those of us who have been reporting that this
occupation failed months  ago, and the vast, vast majority of Iraqis oppose=
 the
occupation and  support the resistance, will end up again being proven righ=
t. But
I'm  afraid with the media blackout in the mainstream of the U.S., in
general, being as stunningly effective as it has been, I think this is  goi=
ng to be
a long time before this comes to light. But it will.
I do envision a deepening of the clampdown we are  now experiencing. We're
watching this in the U.S. media now, with NPR  having even jumped on the
propaganda bandwagon.
However, as with repression of any kind, the more  the "powers that be"
attempt to muzzle independent media and the truth,  the more they create a =
growing,
powerful, diverse entity that finds new  and creative ways to work here.
For example, the closing of the al-Jazeera office  here has simply caused
their journalists to go underground and  decentralize, making it impossible=
 for
the government to control them.  In this way, the repression naturally crea=
tes
a smarter, more diverse  and creative resistance in the form of increased
independent  reportage.
In the end, people know the truth when they see  it. I taste this by mail I
get from my readers =E2=80=93 those who read many  sources and thank me for=
 reporting
the truth, as well as those who  support the occupation who send hate mail =
and
try to tell me I'm  reporting from Idaho and making everything up. Their ug=
ly
reactions  indicate that they prefer not to know the truth =E2=80=93 that t=
heir
government  has deceived a large percentage of the American people into sup=
porting
an illegal invasion that has cost at least 100,000 Iraqi lives, as well  as
those of over 1,200 U.S. soldiers. Many people would rather lash out  to pr=
otect
their denial rather than accepting responsibility for  supporting such
atrocities.
In the end, the truth will come out, no matter  how intense the repression
becomes. And in the end, those in America who  support this occupation will
eventually see that virtually the majority  of people in every other countr=
y on
the planet oppose the American  agenda in Iraq.
It is only a matter of time.
_http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=3D4095_
(http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=3D4095)






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To: anti-allawi-group@yahoogroups.com
From: ahmed Al-Habbabi <kelebdooni@yahoo.com>
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Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 06:15:17 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [anti-allawi-group] Unembedded: An Interview With Dahr Jamail
Reply-To: anti-allawi-group@yahoogroups.com
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To learn what it's really like, this is a good beginning. This talk sums it=
 all. In this interview, Jamail starts with his personal background and wor=
k, and goes on to portray the current Iraqi scene in all its colors: how pe=
ople live and what they feel about their kind of life, their reactions to t=
he resistance, its nature and composition, the allawi state, the elections,=
 the occupation, the sectarian issue, and whatever may come next. It's all =
here.


December 2, 2004
by Charles Shaw
Newtopia



Newtopia: Give us a little background on yourself. Where did you grow up, g=
o to school? Where have you lived? What's been your professional background=
? What were your main social, political, and cultural influences?
 Dahr Jamail's article archive on Antiwar.com
Dahr Jamail: I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and attended college =
at Texas A&M University where I majored in Speech Communications. After gra=
duating, I moved to Colorado, then Utah, then Washington state, where I wor=
ked for awhile on a masters in English literature. Funds ran out, so I took=
 a job working in an air-monitoring laboratory on Johnston Island, a U.S. t=
erritory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We monitored the air at a chem=
ical demilitarization plant that incinerated 6% of the chemical weapons (no=
w obsolete) of the military.

While there, I traveled around the world on my breaks from the monotonous j=
ob. The perspective and experiences I gained from my travels opened my mind=
 and heart to the world =96 seeing the unearned and unfair privilege we in =
the U.S. had struck me whilst traveling to so many developing countries lik=
e Indonesia and Palau, then later Nepal.

I had a calling to move to Alaska to climb Denali. I moved there in 1996, c=
limbed Denali the next summer, and have stayed ever since. There I worked a=
s a mountain guide during summers, as well as assisting in rescues with the=
 park service. My life there for five years centered primarily on climbing =
and being in the mountains. Climbing found me traveling to Mexico, Pakistan=
, Chile, and Argentina.

One of the largest influences on me was a job I took in the climbing off-se=
ason, which was working as a personal assistant for my dear friend Duane Fr=
ench, who experiences quadriplegia. I saw the efforts he went to just to ex=
ist, and how government policy directly affected his life. Here I was awake=
ned politically. Our daily discussions of policy and political parties got =
my wheels turning, pulling me out of the classic American comfort zone of a=
pathy and ignorance.

Then, of course, watching the stealing of the presidency in 2000 by the Bus=
h regime shocked me further into action, followed by the military response =
to 9/11, then of course the selling of the Iraq invasion. During the media =
sell job, I could take no more and knew that this was an information war. I=
 had done some freelance writing for various magazines and continued this b=
y writing in our alternative weekly rag in Anchorage.

We did a good job showing the alternative view after the events of 9/11, sh=
owing the U.S. support of bin Laden, who the Reagan administration funded a=
nd trained them, etc. Shortly thereafter, our editor was fired, so the enti=
re staff left in protest within one month.

So I started saving my money and came to the front lines to start telling t=
he truth from Iraq in November 2003.

Newtopia: How long have you been reporting on Iraq, and what brought you th=
ere?

DJ: I have spent six of the last 12 months in Iraq. As I mentioned, what br=
ought me here was the nearly total failure of the U.S. "mainstream" media t=
o show the truth of this illegal invasion and occupation. How it affected t=
he Iraqis, as well as U.S. soldiers. Overall, they just weren't doing their=
 job, and this has grown even worse.

I had done all the usual actions of attempting to speak up and effect chang=
e at home =96 calling and writing Senators/Congresspeople, attending teach-=
ins, spreading information. After watching the worldwide demonstrations on =
February 15, 2003 be brushed aside as a "focus group," I knew then that the=
 minds of the American public had been misled by the corporate media who mi=
ndlessly supported the objectives of the Bush regime, and reporting the tru=
e effects of the invasion/occupation on the Iraqi people and U.S. soldiers =
was what I needed to do.

Newtopia: What is it like being one of the only "unembedded" journalists op=
erating in the country? Do you fear for your safety, and what have you done=
 to ensure your safety? Whom do you fear more, random kidnappers or the Ame=
rican military? How do you manage to move through Iraqi society now when it=
 appears that, in the wake of Margaret Hassan's murder, all Westerners are =
viable targets? And on that same note, what do the Iraqis think of the kidn=
appings, murders, and beheadings?

DJ: It's tough. Working in this environment of media repression and danger =
is always an uphill battle. Blinking electricity, car bombs, kidnappings ar=
e the playing field. I constantly monitor my safety factor and those who wo=
rk with me. I grew a beard, dress like locals, and only travel around cover=
tly with one interpreter in a beat up car. I minimize my time on the street=
, while at the same time spending enough there to get the Iraqis reactions =
to what unfolds here each day.

My greatest concern is the reaction of my own government. I'm reporting inf=
ormation that the Bush regime wants kept under wraps. I fear reprisal from =
both the government and military far, far more than being kidnapped or blow=
n up by a car bomb.

Iraqis are of course shocked and outraged by the beheadings and kidnappings=
 of people like Margaret Hassan. So many also believe it was a CIA/Mossad p=
lot to keep aid organizations and journalists out of Iraq in order to give =
the military and corporations here a free hand to continue to disassemble a=
nd sell off the country.

Newtopia: On Nov. 18 in one of your dispatches you wrote, "Journalists are =
increasingly being detained and threatened by the U.S.-installed interim go=
vernment in Iraq. Media have been stopped particularly from covering recent=
 horrific events in Fallujah." What are the predominant differences between=
 your reporting and that of the corporate media and embedded reporters, or =
that of Iraqi and Muslim journalists? In other words, what does each group =
do with the same pieces of information? Do you feel you have a freer hand b=
y being "unembedded"? Have you or anyone you know been intimidated or haras=
sed in any way?

DJ: Myself and most Arab and Western independent journalists here show the =
costs of war. Report the massacres, the slaughter, the dead and wounded kid=
s, disaster that this occupation truly is for the Iraqi people. Report on t=
he low morale of most soldiers here, report on how doctors now state openly=
 that due to lack of funds and help from the US-backed Ministry of Health, =
they feel it is worse now than during the sanctions.

I do feel I have more freedom because I am "unembedded." I'm flying under t=
he mainstream radar of censorship.

I have been attacked from some mainstream sources and pundits. Fox propagan=
da channel invited me on after I accurately reported the sniping of ambulan=
ces, medical workers, and civilians in Fallujah last April =85 I declined t=
he setup because I didn't have a desire to have my character assassinated.

My Web site has taken some attacks by hackers =85 but so far we've managed =
the onslaught. I receive some hate mail via my site, and have received one =
death threat =85 so far.

Newtopia: The U.S. corporate media consistently characterize the Iraqi resi=
stance as "foreign terrorists and former Ba'athist insurgents." In your exp=
erience, is this an accurate portrayal? If not, why?

DJ: This is propaganda of the worst kind. Most Iraqis refer to the Iraqi re=
sistance as "patriots." Which, of course, most of them are =96 they are, es=
pecially in Fallujah, primarily composed of people who simply are resisting=
 the occupation of their country by a foreign power. They are people who ha=
ve had family members killed, detained, tortured, and humiliated by the ill=
egal occupiers of their shattered country.

Calling them "foreign terrorists" and "Ba'athist insurgents" is simply a li=
e. While there are small elements of these, they are distinctly different f=
rom the Iraqi resistance, who are now supported by, very conservatively at =
least 80% of the population here.

There are terrorist elements here, but that is because the borders of Iraq =
have been left wide open since the invasion. These did not exist in Iraq be=
fore.

The Bush regime likes to refer to anyone who does not support their ideolog=
y and plans for global domination as a "terrorist."

Here, these fighters in the Iraqi resistance are referred to as freedom fig=
hters, holy warriors, and patriots.

Newtopia: We rarely see any substantial imagery coming out of Iraq in the U=
.S. corporate media. What does Iraq look like now? What aren't the people i=
n the United States seeing, and what do you feel they should be seeing?

DJ: The devastation. The massive suffering and devastation of the people an=
d their country. Baghdad remains in shambles 19 months into this illegal oc=
cupation. Bombed buildings sit as insulting reminders of broken promises of=
 reconstruction.

Bullet ridden mosques with blood stained carpets inside where worshippers, =
unarmed, have been slaughtered by soldiers.

Entire families living on the street. 70% unemployment with no hope of this=
 changing. Chaotic, clogged streets of Baghdad and 5-mile-long petrol lines=
 in this oil rich country.

Engineers and doctors, unemployed, driving their cars as a taxi to try to f=
eed their families.

The seething anger in the eyes of people on the streets as U.S. patrols rum=
ble past.

Iraqis now cheering when another U.S. patrol or base is attacked. Dancing o=
n the burning U.S. military hardware.

Dead and maimed U.S. soldiers. The wounded screaming and writhing in agony.=
 Their shattered families.

The mass graves of innocent Fallujans after the utter destruction of their =
city.

Children deformed by depleted uranium exposure lying in shattered hospitals=
, suffering from lack of treatment, or even pain medications.

Dead, rotting bodies in the streets of Fallujah of women and children being=
 eaten by dogs and cats because the military did not allow relief teams int=
o the city for nearly two weeks.

Newtopia: What are the sentiments of the Iraqis you have spoken with toward=
 the Americans? Is there any good will left? Was there any to begin with? W=
hat do they think of Allawi, the pending "elections," the continued occupat=
ion, the American-trained Iraqi security forces? Do they have any hope or b=
elief that the Americans will leave, or are they thinking this will be a ge=
neration-long occupation?

DJ: There was support by most Iraqis for the removal of Saddam Hussein. But=
 that started to ebb quickly on in the occupation as people watched family =
members killed, detained, tortured, and humiliated by the occupation forces=
.

Then there was Abu Ghraib. I cannot stress enough how devastating this was =
to U.S. credibility in Iraq, and the entire Middle East.

Throw on top of that the April siege of Fallujah, nearly complete lack of r=
econstruction, importation of foreign workers to do jobs Iraqis are far mor=
e qualified for, the installation of an illegal interim government, and you=
 have a complete PR disaster for the U.S. here.

Any credibility for the occupiers, and I doubt there was much to speak of, =
after the destruction of Fallujah has been lost. Iraqis I speak with are in=
furiated at the U.S. government. While they are well aware that what is mos=
t likely the majority of people in the U.S. being in opposition to the Bush=
 regime, they believe the U.S. government and those who support it are guil=
ty of war crimes of the worst kind. I see rage, grief, and the desire for r=
evenge on a daily basis here.

They hate Allawi. They have no respect for him or any other of the puppets =
in the U.S.-installed interim government, because they don't see how any se=
lf-respecting person would allow themselves to be a puppet of the U.S. in t=
his illegal, brutal endeavor.

They are well aware that he is an exile who has been linked with the CIA an=
d British intel for a long, long time. He and the rest of the interim gover=
nment are viewed as thieves, rapists, and U.S. pawns. They are utterly loat=
hed, as everyone here knows these people do not have the interests of the I=
raqi people in mind.

The elections are viewed as a joke. Most here now believe there is no way t=
hey can be held in an honest, transparent and truly democratic way. Most ar=
e also too afraid to vote. I've heard people say things like, "The American=
s won't even allow a legitimate election in their own country, so why would=
 they want to have one here!"

The Iraqi "security" forces, being the police and national guard, are viewe=
d by most as surrogates of the U.S. military. They are viewed as collaborat=
ors and traitors by most. While people understand many of these forces join=
 out of desperation because there are no jobs, they remain loathed, along w=
ith the foreign occupation forces. It doesn't help when many of the police =
are actively involved in organized crime.

Lastly, the occupation is viewed as endless. Iraqis know there are already =
fourpermanent military bases here, and more soldiers coming. There is littl=
e hope amongst those I talk with about this topic that the occupation will =
end.

Newtopia: We've read substantive reports recently that over 100,000 innocen=
t Iraqi civilians have been killed since the war began. What is your take o=
n this report, and what have you seen that either supports or contradicts i=
t? Is the U.S. military indiscriminately targeting civilians, or are they j=
ust hopelessly inept, or is it something in-between?

DJ: I think this report has understated the death toll. From what I've seen=
 during my six months here, it is increasingly difficult to find a family h=
ere who has not had at least one member killed by either the military or cr=
iminal activity. Entire neighborhoods in Fallujah have been bombed into rub=
ble. Houses with entire families have been incinerated and blown to pieces.

The random gunfire of soldiers nearly every time a patrol or convoy is atta=
cked almost always results in civilian deaths. Keep in mind there are now o=
ver 100 attacks per day on U.S. forces in occupied Iraq.

Then we have the infrastructure =96 people dying from lack of food, water b=
orne diseases, inadequate health care =85 the list is longer than any of us=
 know.

I think the military is killing so many civilians for several reasons. Prim=
arily, because they have been put in an untenable situation by their comman=
der-in-chief =96 that is, a no-win guerilla war against an enemy who now ha=
s the massive support of the populace. Thus, anyone, anytime could be an at=
tacker. So they are shooting first and asking questions later because they =
are scared to death.

They are using a conventional military to fight a guerilla war =96 and just=
 as in Vietnam, it is a disaster and utter failure.

Then there are the soldiers who have completely dehumanized Iraqis, and I'v=
e spoken with some who seem to actually enjoy killing them.

Of course, it doesn't help that this is sanctioned and encouraged by the U.=
S. government, and that blinding religious ideology appears to have filtere=
d down into many of the soldiers here. "You are either with us, or you are =
against us." Iraq is now full of fields of death. There is carnage in the s=
treets everyday in Baghdad, as well as other cities throughout much of the =
country.

Newtopia: There has been a lot of speculation about the role of oil in the =
occupation. Americans were told that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the w=
ar and reconstruction, but there is no oil coming out of Iraq after more th=
an 18 months. Certain journalists and activists ranging from Jim Marrs to M=
ike Ruppert to Peter Camejo have all stated, in some form or other, that th=
is was never the intention, that the idea was to first remove Iraqi oil fro=
m the world market, thereby driving up oil prices (the profits mainly landi=
ng in the pockets of the Saudis), and eventually to co-opt the oil supply t=
o sell to China and India as their energy demands skyrocket. What have you =
seen in regards to oil activity? Also, Iraq Coalition Casualty was the only=
 outlet to report on a series of coordinated attacks on the Iraqi oil infra=
structure all this week. This has gone completely unreported in the U.S. co=
rporate media. Do you believe this lack of reporting is intentional and who=
 do you think is
 sabotaging the infrastructure?

DJ: Iraq is still importing all of its gasoline. And from what I know, they=
 are exporting all of the oil from here, as well as that which is refined i=
n Iraq, which isn't much at all, if any.

I think the lack of reporting on the sabotaging is akin to the lack of repo=
rting that there are nearly 100 attacks per day on U.S. soldiers, or lack o=
f reporting of lack of infrastructure, etc. I think it all falls under the =
umbrella of the mainstream media's successful efforts to whitewash the Iraq=
 catastrophe for the Bush administration.

It looks as though it is the resistance who are doing the sabotaging. An op=
en question though, regarding what you asked, is why is there not better pr=
otection of the oil infrastructure?

Newtopia: We have conflicting reports in the U.S. about the Shia and Sunni =
putting aside their historical differences to team up against the Americans=
. Do you see this happening, and what do you believe the eventual outcome w=
ill be? U.S. policymakers claim that an American withdrawal would only resu=
lt in a wide-scale civil war between these two factions and the Kurds in th=
e north. Do you believe this will be the case? Are the Iraqis in a situatio=
n now where they are dammed any way they turn?

DJ: I do see this happening. During the siege of Najaf, collections for aid=
 at Sunni mosques were organized, as well as resistance fighters from Fallu=
jah who provided guns and supplies to the Mahdi Army there. During the sieg=
e of Fallujah last April, Shia weighed heavily in donating aid, and partici=
pated in a non-violent action that pushed supplies into Fallujah through a =
U.S. military cordon.

The Shia/Sunni rift is largely a CIA-generated myth. There are countless tr=
ibes and marriages alike that are both Shia/Sunni. There are mosques here w=
here they pray together.

There is the possibility of war if the Kurds go independent, but the more l=
ikely possibility of that war would be Turkey invading Kurdistan before any=
 Shia/Sunni action would occur regarding this.

Remember the Arab proverb: "Me against my brother. Me and my brother agains=
t my cousin. Me, my brother and cousin against the stranger."

The Iraqis are in a situation where they are damned as long as the U.S. con=
tinues to occupy and subvert their country, as they have been doing.

Newtopia: It is critically important that Americans begin to understand the=
 psyche of the Iraqi resistance. What is really going on in Fallujah, Ramad=
i, Mosul, and Baghdad? Is this a legitimate, coordinated uprising against t=
he occupation, or is it a defensive response to the U.S. escalation of the =
war? Or both? Considering that the U.S. claims they have opened a front to =
"take the battle to al-Qaeda," do you see any evidence of an al-Qaeda prese=
nce, or the presence of "foreign fighters streaming in from the Syrian bord=
er" as is also reported here?

DJ: The resistance is complex because it has so many facets. Parts of it ar=
e simply Iraqis who don't want their country to be occupied. Iraqis who hav=
e had family members killed, tortured, or humiliated by the military =85 so=
 they are exacting revenge. Other parts are more organized, where individua=
l cells are operating in coordinated attacks with other cells, but they rem=
ain largely decentralized. This is why the conventional U.S. Army will neve=
r defeat it. Because the resistance has no face, no leader, no fixed organi=
zation.

It is really both a defensive reaction to the occupiers, but also is going =
more on the offensive as the occupation continues. As one Iraqi man told me=
 once, "The invasion was America's war on Iraq. Now we are seeing the Iraqi=
's war against the Americans."

I have yet to see any evidence or meet any Iraqi who has seen evidence of a=
l-Qaeda here. There are certainly other fighters entering Iraq from differe=
nt countries, but they are a relatively small number. When we say "foreign =
fighters" here, we must recall that every Iraqi I've spoken with views the =
occupiers as the foreign fighters, and not any other Arab who is coming her=
e to fight in the resistance. Most Iraqis I speak with view these Arab figh=
ters as brothers, and the occupiers as the "foreign fighters."

Newtopia: Tell us about the raid on the Abu Hanifa mosque, and what it mean=
s in the larger scope of the war?

DJ: At 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19, U.S. troops and Iraqi National Guard =
sealed the Abu Hanifa mosque in the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad. The im=
am, a longtime outspoken critic of the occupation, was detained.

The raid occurred during Friday prayers, and people began praying loudly be=
cause they were very afraid due to the fact that over 100 armed soldiers we=
re pointing guns at them. They were instructed to be quiet, but the worship=
pers continued to pray, and were fired upon. Four people were killed and at=
 least nine wounded, along with 30 people detained.

This mosque had been raided at least five times previously, with no weapons=
 ever having had been found.

Abu Hanifa is the largest and most prominent Sunni mosque in Iraq, as well =
as one of the most important in the entire Muslim world. This blatant act o=
f provocation (the imam could have just as easily been detained on any give=
n day in his office or home) has resulted in heavy fighting throughout Bagh=
dad and a new curfew in al-Adhamiya, along with home raids and more detenti=
ons.

This action will draw in even more fighters to the resistance. This is obvi=
ously just one step in the attempt to crush a largely Sunni resistance.

Newtopia: Have you had much contact with American troops, and if so, what a=
re they saying, and what is your impression of them? Do you support NBC rep=
orter Kevin Sites' decision to film and report on the murder of an unarmed =
and wounded Iraqi prisoner this week? Do you believe this was a relatively =
"isolated" incident, or did these guys just get caught?

DJ: I've had a fair amount, but not so much this trip. I make it a point to=
 avoid them now since they are such constant targets. They are being attack=
ed at least 100 times a day as of late. But when I interacted with them my =
last two trips I found most of them to be quite scared, and morale depended=
 on how long they'd been here. The newer folks were keeping a stiff upper l=
ip and staying on message. The folks who'd been here six, nine, or 12 month=
s were angry, aiming their guns at everyone, and sometimes high on drugs. N=
ot to generalize =96 not all were like this. But I saw many who were, and i=
t reminded me of everything I've read about what happened to the psyche of =
U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.

I do support Kevin Sites' decision to film what he did of the execution of =
the old, unarmed Iraqi man in the mosque. One-hundred percent I support thi=
s. People need to see that this is what is occurring here =96 and this is N=
OT an isolated incident. Nearly every refugee from Fallujah I've interviewe=
d has spoken of mass executions, tanks rolling over the wounded in the stre=
ets, bodies being thrown in the Euphrates by the military, and other atroci=
ties.

The footage of the execution in the mosque is akin to the photos that came =
out of Abu Ghraib. They are only the tip of the iceberg of atrocities that =
have been occurring here from the beginning. Atrocities that are occurring =
right now.

Indeed, those soldiers just got caught. This is not news, however =96 becau=
se we've even had military commanders come out in the media and admit that =
they gave orders to soldiers to shoot anything that moved in Fallujah. What=
 we will see in Fallujah is that it has been a genocide.

Newtopia: Lastly, what do you see happening in both the immediate and dista=
nt future in Iraq? How long do you plan to stay? Do you believe you will si=
ll safely be able to report the truth to us when so much of your reporting =
flies in the face of the so-called "official" reports and media blackout? D=
o you envision an even greater information clampdown, or do you think indep=
endent reporting is going to become a stronger force as the U.S. digs itsel=
f into a deeper and deeper hole?

DJ: I see more bloodshed and chaos. Sending more troops will only speed up =
the spiral here; increase the fighting. I see a continuing degradation of t=
he infrastructure and failing of the occupation. It has already failed. It =
had failed even before the April siege of Fallujah and the Abu Ghraib scand=
al (which is ongoing). The real question is, how many more Iraqis and soldi=
ers die before the U.S. admits to its colossal failure, makes reparations f=
or the countless war crimes that have been committed, and pulls out.

The long term =96 that depends on how long the U.S. stays here. It is rare =
when I speak with an Iraqi who wants the US to stay =96 they say, "Civil wa=
r? It can't possibly be worse than this =96 so the U.S. should leave. Then =
we'd at least have the chance to run our own country."

Another man pointed out that if there were a civil war, no Shia or Kurdish =
attack on Fallujah could ever possibly compare to the devastation the U.S. =
military has caused there. I think he makes a good point.

I am concerned about my safety, of course. This is the most dangerous place=
 in the world for a journalist to be, especially those of us who are report=
ing the reality of what is occurring here. I have concerns of reprisal from=
 the military and my government =96 because they don't like to have the fac=
ts get out. I've consistently been a minority voice with my reporting in Ir=
aq, which has led many to discount my reports and call me biased.

Yet, I have consistently been shown to be accurate, as have the other indep=
endents here. An example would be that several of us were reporting on Abu =
Ghraib months before the mainstream decided to do their job and run the sto=
ry. And at the end of the day, those of us who have been reporting that thi=
s occupation failed months ago, and the vast, vast majority of Iraqis oppos=
e the occupation and support the resistance, will end up again being proven=
 right. But I'm afraid with the media blackout in the mainstream of the U.S=
., in general, being as stunningly effective as it has been, I think this i=
s going to be a long time before this comes to light. But it will.

I do envision a deepening of the clampdown we are now experiencing. We're w=
atching this in the U.S. media now, with NPR having even jumped on the prop=
aganda bandwagon.

However, as with repression of any kind, the more the "powers that be" atte=
mpt to muzzle independent media and the truth, the more they create a growi=
ng, powerful, diverse entity that finds new and creative ways to work here.

For example, the closing of the al-Jazeera office here has simply caused th=
eir journalists to go underground and decentralize, making it impossible fo=
r the government to control them. In this way, the repression naturally cre=
ates a smarter, more diverse and creative resistance in the form of increas=
ed independent reportage.

In the end, people know the truth when they see it. I taste this by mail I =
get from my readers =96 those who read many sources and thank me for report=
ing the truth, as well as those who support the occupation who send hate ma=
il and try to tell me I'm reporting from Idaho and making everything up. Th=
eir ugly reactions indicate that they prefer not to know the truth =96 that=
 their government has deceived a large percentage of the American people in=
to supporting an illegal invasion that has cost at least 100,000 Iraqi live=
s, as well as those of over 1,200 U.S. soldiers. Many people would rather l=
ash out to protect their denial rather than accepting responsibility for su=
pporting such atrocities.

In the end, the truth will come out, no matter how intense the repression b=
ecomes. And in the end, those in America who support this occupation will e=
ventually see that virtually the majority of people in every other country =
on the planet oppose the American agenda in Iraq.

It is only a matter of time.



http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=3D4095









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Message: 6
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:24:40 EST
Subject: The quiet of destruction and death
To: Intelligentminds@yahoogroups.com, AlAwda@yahoogroups.com,
        anti-allawi-group@yahoogroups.com, newsclippings@casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]


The Quiet of Destruction and  Death

Dahr Jamail

12/02/04 "_ICH_ (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/) " -- It=E2=80=
=99s a  late
morning start today=E2=80=A6as I=E2=80=99m waiting for Abu Talat, who calls=
 to tell  me he
is snarled in traffic and will be late once again, huge explosions  shake m=
y
hotel. Shortly thereafter mortars are exploding in the =E2=80=9Cgreen  zone=
=E2=80=9D as the
loud warning sirens there begin to blare across  Baghdad.

Automatic weapon fire cracks down the  street.

The good news is that interim prime minister Ayad  Allawi has announced a
shortening of the curfew that most of Iraq is  under. So now rather than ha=
ving
to be off the streets by 10:30pm, we can  stay out until 11pm before we are
shot on sight.

This past Sunday a  small Iraqi Red Crescent aid convoy was allowed into
Fallujah at 4:30pm. I  interviewed a member of the convoy today. Speaking o=
n
condition of  anonymity, (so I=E2=80=99ll call her Suthir), the first thing=
 she said to me
was,  =E2=80=9CI need another heart and eyes to bear it because my own are =
not enough
to  bear what I saw. Nothing justifies what was done to this city. I didn=
=E2=80=99t
see a house or mosque that wasn=E2=80=99t destroyed.=E2=80=9D

Suthir paused often  to collect herself, but then as usual with those of us
who have witnessed  atrocities first hand, when she started to talk, she ba=
rely
stopped to  breath.

=E2=80=9CThere were families with nothing. I met a family with  three daugh=
ters and
two sons. One of their sons, Mustafa who was 16 years  old, was killed by
American snipers. Then their house was burned. They had  nothing to eat. Ju=
st rice
and cold water-dirty water=E2=80=A6they put the rice in  the dirty water, l=
et it sit
for one or two hours, then they ate the rice.  Fatma, the 17 year-old daugh=
ter,
said she was praying for God to take her  soul because she couldn=E2=80=99t=
 bear the
horrors anymore.=E2=80=9D

The families=E2=80=99  12 year old boy told Suthir he used to want to be a =
doctor or
a  journalist. She paused then added, =E2=80=9CHe said that now he has no m=
ore
dreams. He could no longer even sleep.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99m sure the  Americans committed bad things there, but wh=
o can discover
and say this,=E2=80=9D  she said, =E2=80=9CThey didn=E2=80=99t allow us to =
go to the Julan area or any
of the  others where there was heavy fighting, and I=E2=80=99m sure that is=
 where the
horrible things took place.=E2=80=9D

She told me the military took civilian  cars and used them, parked in group=
s,
to block the streets.

Suthir  described a scene of complete destruction. She said not one mosque,
house  or school was undamaged, and said the situation was so desperate for=
 the
 few families left in the city that people were literally starving to  deat=
h,
surviving as the aforementioned family was.

Rather than  burying full bodies, residents of Fallujah are burying legs an=
d
arms, and  sometimes just skeletons as dogs had eaten the rest of the  body=
.

She said that even the schools in Fallujah had been bombed.  Suthir also
reported that the oldest teacher in Fallujah, a 90 year-old  man, while pra=
ying in
a mosque was shot in the head by a US  sniper.

The US military has not given a date when the hundreds of  thousands of
refugees from Fallujah would be allowed to return to their  city, but estim=
ated it
would be 2 months.

The Minister of Education  announced today that schools will reopen in
Fallujah next  week.

=E2=80=9CThere was no reconstruction there,=E2=80=9D Suthir added, =E2=80=
=9CI  just saw more bombs
falling and black smoke. There is not a house or  school undamaged there. I
went to a part of the city that someone said was  not bombed, but it was
completely destroyed.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CThe Americans didn=E2=80=99t  let us in the places where everyone =
said there was
napalm used,=E2=80=9D she said,  =E2=80=9CJulan and those places where the =
heaviest fighting
was, nobody is allowed  to go there.=E2=80=9D

She said that there were many military checkpoints,  but most of the soldie=
rs
she saw were not doing much.

=E2=80=9CIt was  quiet, but this wasn=E2=80=99t the quiet of peace,=E2=80=
=9D she told me, =E2=80=9CIt was
the quiet  of destruction and death.=E2=80=9D

As helicopters rumble overhead,  she added with frustration and anger, =E2=
=80=9CThe
military is doing nothing to  help people. Only the Iraqi Red Crescent is
trying to help-but nobody can  help the traumatized people, even the IRC.=
=E2=80=9D

Later this afternoon,  back in my room one of my Iraqi friends stops by. We
talk work until the  sun sets, so she stands to prepare to leave as she doe=
sn=E2=80=99t
like to be out  after dark.

Pulling her jacket on she tells me, =E2=80=9CYou know, it is  only getting =
worse
here. Everyday is worse than the last day. Today will  be better than tomor=
row.
Right now is better than the next hour. This is  our life in Iraq now.=E2=
=80=9D

Copyright: Dahr Jamail visit his website  http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/


--__--__--

Message: 7
Subject: Bush links UN funding to oil-for-food investigation
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 11:11:31 +0000
From: "Jonathan Stevenson" <jjjstevenson@DELETETHISfastmail.fm>

Bush links UN funding to oil-for-food investigation
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
2 December 2004

President George W. Bush on Thursday linked future US funding of the
United Nations to clear accounting of what went on under the
multi-billion dollar oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

=93In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable
about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting,
and I look forward to that process going forward,=94 he told journalists.

When asked whether Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, should resign
over revelations that Saddam Hussein, the ousted Iraqi leader, was able
to subvert UN sanctions and raise billions of dollars illicitly, Mr Bush
offered less than a ringing defence.

=93I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, a good, honest
appraisal of that which went on,=94 he said. =93It's important for the
integrity of the organisation to have a full and open disclosure of all
that took place with the oil-for-food programme.=94 His comments were made
amid a mounting US attack on the UN at a time when the organisation is
trying to reform in order to meet new security challenges. A reform
package, written by 16 veteran world dignitaries, was made public on
Thursday. Mr Annan hopes it will stimulate debate on collective
security. He plans to issue his recommendations next March, and a summit
will discuss UN reform next September.

However, the initiative has been overshadowed by the calls of two senior
Republican senators for Mr Annan to resign. Senator Norm Coleman, who
chairs the Senate permanent subcommittee investigating the oil-for-food
scandal, has said that the UN =93cannot root out its own corruption while
Mr Annan is in charge=94.

On Thursday, the New York Post claimed that Kojo Annan, his son, had
=93used his father's worldwide connections to wheel and deal with heads of
state, at UN gatherings=94. Fred Eckhard, the UN spokesman, on Thursday
would not comment on the article.

Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schr=F6der, the leaders of France and Germany,
called Mr Annan after an informal summit at Lubeck on Thursday to =93send
him a message of friendship and support for his work in the service of
peace, development and the United Nations reform=94, Reuters reported.

Senator Carl Levin, a senior Democrat who has worked closely on the UN
oil-for-food investigation, said Mr Coleman's call for Mr Annan's
resignation was =93unwarranted=94.

=93There's no evidence that our subcommittee has seen that shows any
impropriety on the part of Kofi Annan,=94 he said, adding that the US had
contributed =93very significantly=94 to the oil-for-food problems.

=93We knew, for instance, that about $15bn [=8011bn, =A38bn] in direct oil
sales were being made by Iraq to Jordan and to Turkey and to Syria,=94 Mr
Levin said. =93Both President Clinton and this President Bush knowingly
waived that problem. To lay that as corruption on Kofi Annan's doorstep,
it seems to me, is totally unwarranted.=94


--__--__--

Message: 8
Subject: White House getting used to idea of Shia government
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 11:12:29 +0000
From: "Jonathan Stevenson" <jjjstevenson@DELETETHISfastmail.fm>


White House getting used to idea of Shia government
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Financial Times, 2 December 2004

As American troop reinforcements head to Iraq, the Bush administration
is slowly coming to terms with the realisation that elections scheduled
for next month could spell the end of Iyad Allawi, prime minister and
the secular US favourite, and usher in a quasi-theocracy.

Nothing is certain, not even the January 30 election date, yet there is
a growing expectation in Washington that a coalition dominated by
religious parties of the Shia majority is likely to emerge as the first
Shia Muslim government in the Arab world.

One US official, an expert on the Middle East, reflected on the
unforeseen consequences of last year's invasion.

"Now we are willing to countenance a limited theocracy in Iraq, limited
by a weak basic law that guarantees basic civil liberties," said the
official, who asked not to be named. "That was not the original idea."

The sweeping vision of neoconservatives of a secular, democratic Iraq
that would transform the political equation in the region and recognise
Israel had been shattered, said the official.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a Shia cleric and leader of the Iranian-backed
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), is one of
several names circulating in Washington as a likely prime minister.
Others include Adel Abd al-Mahdi, the current finance minister and Sciri
member, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the current vice president and head of
the Shia Dawa party.

Some leading neoconservatives in Washington are dismayed at the
weakening of secular moderates by the persistent Sunni insurgency.
Richard Perle, former adviser to the Pentagon, says the big mistake was
not to have installed an early government of exiles.

Charles Krauthammer, a commentator, warned the Shia and Kurdish minority
that the US was not ready to fight "their civil war" against the Sunnis
indefinitely. The US wanted to "maintain this idea of a unified,
non-ethnic Iraq". "At some point, however, we must decide whether that
is possible and how many American lives should be sacrificed in its
name."

Experts on Iraq and the Shia at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),
a leading neoconservative policy group, are still upbeat.

They believe a Shia-led coalition that will oversee the process of
writing a constitution next year will remain democratic and make
compromises. Although religious, it will not be a theocracy because
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential spiritual leader,
will stay in the background.

Despite the groups' ties to Iran and its Revolutionary Guards, they say
Sciri and Dawa are not beholden to the ayatollahs in Iran.

Michael Rubin, a former US adviser in Iraq and now an AEI analyst,
predicts a broad-based coalition with a "religious colouring".

Mr Allawi, whose party has not yet managed to form a coalition slate, is
likely to lose out, says Mr Rubin, who believes Central Intelligence
Agency polling data overestimate the popularity of their prot=E9g=E9.

"The Bush administration sees Afghanistan as a success story and wants
to replicate it, but Allawi is no Hamid Karzai," says Mr Rubin,
referring to the elected Afghan president.

Reuel Gerecht, a former CIA operative who joined AEI, believes the US
administration is prepared for a lot of Sunnis not to vote because of
intimidation or boycott. "But they are not fully prepared for the Shia
winning and Allawi possibly going down."

A Shia-led government would want US forces to continue fighting the
Sunni insurgents - until Iraqi security forces were trained in numbers.

Mr Hakim, recalls Mr Gerecht, encouraged President George W. Bush to
stay the course during their private meeting in the White House last
January.

More problematic is the reaction of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours to a
Shia leadership in Baghdad. Officials say a flurry of meetings with Arab
leaders is aimed at gaining their acceptance of what the elections may
produce while encouraging the Sunnis to participate and reining in the
ex-Ba'athists.

"The Jordanians and the Saudis are allergic to a Shia-dominated
government and are revolted at the prospect," says Mr Gerecht.

A conference at the US Institute of Peace, which is assisting Iraq,
heard from experts and senior US and Iraqi officials this week that
election preparations were on track in all but three provinces. More
than 4,000 candidates have registered so far.

"It's time for these people to vote. And I am looking forward to it," Mr
Bush said in the Oval Office yesterday. "The elections should not be
postponed."

Ronald Schlicher, the State Department's co-ordinator for Iraq, said the
US would have to accept the results of a "credible" election.




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